Five Weddings
by Mad J-J
Summary: The Five Weddings of Celementianna, or Four Times Clementianna Got Married, and the One She Didn't.
1. The Simple Man

The first wedding Clementianna ever had took place some weeks after her sixteenth birthday. It was to a man as common as they come. She would even have gone as far as to call him pathetic, but she was not the one choosing who she was to marry after all. Her mother told her that a simple man who did good work would be more than enough.

Clementianna didn't want "simple". She didn't want "enough". She wanted to be rich, she wanted to have the jewels to compliment her beauty, she wanted to be admired for what she was. Not that her mother cared.

The simple man was nice enough, she guessed. Easy to manipulate. She had him wrapped around her little finger. She was, and it was important to mention it, the most beautiful girl in the village.

The ceremony was highly disappointing. Clementianna had made herself as… Presentable as possible, she couldn't really say that those rags were her best, but still. She looked really good in anything. Maybe better in nothing than in this, but anyway. She had made an effort. Her hair was clean, soft and bright, its beautiful and naturally vivid color shining. She worked on it for hours. Her dress was complimenting her perfect figure and she even managed to find a necklace, nothing really fancy but she did with what she had.

Her husband to be was… Well she doubted he even bathed. He was at least twenty years older than her, had probably lost as many teeth and smelled as strong as a man working in pig's shit could smell. He was rather disgusting as a whole. And those watery eyes devoid of any intelligence… She still couldn't believe she had to settle for **that**.

They married in a hurry, because their witnesses had to go back to harvesting the fields, and the priest had another wedding to celebrate right after and really, was it so silly of her to hope that the thing she had been promised would be the most beautiful day of her life would last more than five minutes? And in a place that didn't fall apart either?

Clementianna hadn't been happy in that marriage. Her mother could tell her all she wanted that Clementianna had everything she needed, she knew it wasn't true. She needed so much more.

She actually met her second husband while she was still married to the simple man. And she supposed she wasn't supposed to marry her second husband, but Clementianna had the will to make anything possible.

Her simple husband was really agreeable to everything she wanted, but when he became ill, shortly after she turned seventeen, she had to take it upon herself to work. Which was ridiculous, why did she bother marrying the man if she still ended needing for money? Her mother truly had chosen the worst suitor possible. Anyways. It didn't change the fact that Clementianna needed to eat, and to eat one needs money, and to earn money one needs to work (or find someone who had money and marry them, but that option wasn't available at that moment).

Clementianna wasn't about to raise pigs like her husband though. That was laughable at best. She got herself a job in the mansion of their lord. She wanted to see what a real life, full of wealth and beautiful things looked like. People whispered things about the mansion though, saying it was haunted or cursed. It made it all the easiest for Clementianna to get hired: nobody else wanted the job.

She cleaned the dust, but only when someone was looking – she wasn't about to exhaust herself for this useless job, the dust would always come back anyway! - and the rest of the time she was free to roam the long corridors and empty rooms. The architecture of the place, the furniture, everything was of such luxury. She would dance alone on the music that played in her mind, imagining being the honored guest of a ball organized for her sole sake.

She kept exploring every corner of the mansion until one day she found the Room.

It was a different from the others. The feel of it, the atmosphere… She felt shivers down her spine, yet she wasn't cold. She saw no window or candle, yet she could see as if in plain day. She felt dread and fear, yet… Yet nothing held her back from walking towards her reflection.

The Mirror was on the wall, calling her. She said the words without even thinking, as if something was possessing her.

And then everything changed.


	2. The Lord

After that it became easier to claim the mansion's lord attention. She was, at eighteen, a blossoming beauty. He couldn't resist. And if a little magic helped him forget what was suitable for his rank, well…

Oh yes, and her other husband had died from his illness a little while before that, she had forgotten. He had become so useless that she couldn't pinpoint exactly when it happened, but anyway, the end result was the same. She got her second wedding.

This time it was… Better. Not perfect, but better. She was as excited as the last time. It was her wedding after all.

Clementianna was as beautiful as she always was, except that now she finally had suitable clothes. Well, they were a little sober for her taste, but compared to rags, it was suitable. A dress made for the occasion, still too modest and devoid of "unnecessary decorations" as her lord had declared, but the fabric was smooth and shiny. This time, a maid did her hair, and she even got make-up.

The pendant was from the Mirror.

Her new husband wasn't a pretty sight, with his age of… Way-to-old, but he was rich, and he had a title. And he would probably die before she even had the time to understand how he had managed to get that garlic breath when all he ate was onion soup.

The ceremony lasted for fifteen minutes, no longer since her lord didn't want to spent more money than necessary on those "frivolities", but it had a better décor, and there even was a musician. Granted, his interpretation of that… Unrecognizable piece of music on the flute wasn't the best she ever heard, but it would be enough.

For now.

That relationship was in some aspects worse than the last. He was impossible to live with, never giving up any piece of gold without a fight, always arguing that she spent too much. Her first husband was much easier to control, but Clementianna wasn't about to back down from a challenge. She was sharpening her weapon on the old bat's stubbornness.

The Mirror's advices helped.

Clementianna didn't have to wait long indeed for her second husband to pass away. It was such a tragic fall in the stairs. Nothing out of the ordinary though. What else was there to expect after a third refusal of her proposition in investing in some new dresses with more colorful patterns? Not that she pushed him. She simply mentioned to a friend how very fortunate it would be if it ever was to happen.

Clementianna was a young widow of twenty years old, rich, without any distant family member of her late husband asking for inheritance (she made sure they wouldn't be annoying) and of course, the certainty that she was the most beautiful young lady there was. It wouldn't take her long to find another husband. Or so she thought.


	3. The Rich Boy

She was still reluctant to use the Mirror much then, having it warning her repeatedly about the danger of using too much of its magic.

No suitor was suitable. She wanted more money and title, not to marry beneath her! Unfortunately, it appeared her latest husband's title wasn't enough to grant the attention that she wanted.

Several years passed. She had turned twenty-six and would soon be completely broke. It wasn't a situation she enjoyed at all. She had had her fun, but enough was enough.

Just when she was about to give up the good old way and go back to the Mirror though, she met him. Her third husband. He was a fool. And ugly. Seventeen years old and he trembled like a sickly old man, red hair and freckles all over his gaunt face, protuberant nose and claw-like fingers tightening in anxious fists over his chicken-like legs.

He was also rich and one of the most priced bachelor there was. It was whispered that as the only heir of the Duchy, he was also a competitor for the throne since the king and queen had no heir thus far.

It was easy to sweep him off his feet. Clementianna only had to mention how she knew what it was like to be bullied because of one's hair color and he was practically begging for her to marry him. She played the innocent and blushed prettily, assured him that she felt as in love with him as he was with her and the deed was done.

The wedding was finally something that was appropriate for her person. The little rich boy lavished her with the attention she deserved, and Clementianna couldn't be happier. She had not one, but three maids fussing around her to prepare her hair and make-up on her wedding day. Everything was as it should be; she was the most beautiful she ever was.

As she walked down the aisle, clutching tightly her bouquet, her smile was as radiant as her dress, and the eyes of all the assemble were on her. A soft breeze was blowing through her veil, the sun made her red hair glow and even a bird seemed fit to sing at the exact right time for it to feel even more magical.

Then her husband-to-be turn back to her, revealing his smiling face and unequal teeth. He looked as happy as she was about five seconds before. Her own smile was caught in her throat. So, maybe not everything was perfect. She still had to marry this hideous boy, but she'd had it worse. Still, she hoped that her fourth wedding would happen with a man she would actually be attracted to, not someone she just wanted for his money and nobility. A handsome man with looks matching her own for example.

The ceremony was a grandiose affair, something she could even remember fondly if she erased any memory of the grasshopper that was standing next to her. They even had had a banquet afterwards during which she managed to have fun, far away from her third husband who didn't attend after an unfortunate spoiled chicken ended up in his plate.

Yes, it was a rather good wedding. The only problem was that with such a young husband, finding a way to get rid of him became problematic. He didn't enjoy hunting, preferring his books to the outside, and as sickly as he looked he was healthy like a horse. What was she supposed to do, make a bookcase fall on him?

It must have been a pretty good idea since no one questioned it when it inopportunely happened.

Clementianna figured asking the Mirror for another little push really wasn't much.


End file.
